Mobile Medical Unit Archives - Swope Health

Healthcare on Wheels: Our Mobile Medical Unit’s Journey

Tanner Cobb — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 15:40:12 +0000

Since 1987, Swope Health has provided services to unhoused individuals through the Outreach, Healthcare for the Homeless, program. In the early 2000s, the program

expanded with the addition of a mobile medical unit (MMU) – which brings medical services directly to the underserved members of the community.

The MMU offers a variety of services by visiting local shelters, transitional living facilities, and other community organizations in the Kansas City metropolitan area every week, along with participation in community events. Swope Health Outreach Clinic Director Rachel Melson, DNP, FNP-C has been heavily involved with the MMU since joining our health center in 2015.

“We have the opportunity to go out in the community and directly to local shelters to provide care to patients instead of having them come into a clinic,” Melson said. “This is a way to break down that final barrier to care, which is access to services and transportation.”

Swope Health has used multiple units over the years – including three total in Melson’s tenure – due to the high mileage it travels. The MMU is out in the community at least twice a week.

“In the past, we were out in the community three days a week, but COVID disrupted some things. As we continue to rebuild the program, the goal is to be in the community three to four days a week,” she said.

On days when the MMU is out in the community, it travels to a location in the morning and in the afternoon. Thanks to

community partnerships, Swope Health now sees more unhoused individuals than ever before.

“Our partners trust us because we’re visible and consistent in the community,” Melson said. “Patients trust that we will be there when we say we’re going to be there. That is important because individuals who are experiencing homelessness don’t have consistency in a lot of things.”

Swope Health’s community partners include locations across the KC metro such as the Salvation Army, Hope Faith Homeless Assistance Campus, the City Union Mission, and Heartland Center for Behavioral Change.

“We go to some partners once a month; others, we go to each week. For example, we go to the same two spots – Hope Faith and Heartland Center for Behavioral Change – every Thursday because they consistently have a higher volume of people needing care,” she said. “Where we go depends on what their needs are, and we try to meet with our community partners to determine what’s going to work best for them.”

Along with the mobile units, Swope Health also offers free transportation to clinics for patients in select zip codes – including locations that the MMU travels to. Swope Health’s community partners receive the schedule for the shuttle and the MMU monthly as some patients utilize both services.

“We have a shuttle that goes to the shelters to pick patients up, brings them to a clinic, and take them back,” Melson said. “If they need to come in to pick up their medicine, get lab work done, or meet with a caseworker, they have a quick and reliable way to get to a clinic.”

The MMU team has a rotation of staff members who take turns going out in the community. The team consists of a driver, a case worker, a medical assistant, and a medical provider.

“Our team works together to meet the needs of our patients,” she said. “Our case workers help enroll patients in our services and connect them to resources at Swope Health and in the community. I’m one of the medical providers and my role is to provide medical care but also to be a listening ear.”

When a patient gets onto the unit, they check in with the case worker to register

and see if they have any immediate medical needs. Additionally, every patient on the unit has access to medical screenings.

“Our treatment model is standardized for each patient. If you come onto the unit, you’re going to meet with a case worker, have your vital signs run, and receive a medical history evaluation. Additionally, we offer point-of-care tests: Hep-C, HIV, and diabetes screening,” Melson said.

Swope Health’s MMU also serves at community events throughout the year. That includes Project Homeless Connect, an annual, one-day free event that gives unhoused individuals free access to difficult-to-obtain services. Swope Health has been the medical partner for the event since 2015, its inaugural year.

Interested in scheduling the Swope Health Mobile Medical Unit for a community event? To make the request, click here.

The post Healthcare on Wheels: Our Mobile Medical Unit’s Journey appeared first on Swope Health.

Making Bright Smiles: Our Mobile Dental Unit’s Journey

Tanner Cobb — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 20:37:59 +0000

Swope Health’s mission has always been to deliver accessible, quality, comprehensive patient care to the community – and the health center has taken that a step further in recent years. With the acquisition of two Mobile Dental Units, Swope Health now goes directly to the underserved members of the community, primarily providing care to those in schools and homeless shelters.

Before the mobile program was created, Swope Health was making dental care visible in the community in other ways. Since becoming the Swope Health Director of Dental Outreach in 2020, Shawn Oprisiu has played a pivotal role in enhancing the dental care experience.

“When I got here, we had a pack-and-play process,” Oprisiu said. “We would go into schools and set up a clinic inside to serve the children. We had enough infrastructure to house a mobile unit, which was our main goal and why I was recruited here.”

After getting approval from senior leadership and the board of directors, Swope Health received a large grant from Delta Dental to help purchase the first MDU – which arrived in the fall of 2020. Swope Health needed to find and purchase a unit, install dental equipment inside, and paint it.

“I talked with people who were running mobile programs all over the country about what was good, what was bad, what they liked, and what they disliked,” she said. “We ultimately decided to partner with Farber Specialty Vehicles to provide the mobile unit to us. They built a beautiful unit, and then we delivered the rest of it.”

Resurrection Church was instrumental in Swope Health’s second MDU. Resurrection has an annual tradition of donating their entire Candlelight Christmas Eve Offering to fund Kansas City-based projects and assisted Swope Health in 2023. It took 15 months to complete the second MDU – which made its debut earlier this year.

“One day when we were out in the community, a couple of people from Resurrection saw the unit, toured it, and asked more about what we do,” she said. “The church was able to fund the second unit with their generous Christmas Eve offering.”

The MDU team has given a name to both Winnebago units, naming the original one Winnie and the newer one Willie. Now that there are two units, they have a new process to ensure patients get the most out of their experiences with Swope Health.

“Winnie has two dental hygienists, and a CSR, and a driver,” Swope Health Mobile Dental Unit Clinic Manager Martha Gutierrez said. “After we give cleanings and document the patients, Willie follows up with treatment a week or two later. Dr. Shea Durington goes out on the treatment days with her Dental assistant.”

Between September and May, the MDU serves children at schools in the Kansas City area. The MDU provides care to nearly 3,000 children annually and typically serves 20-30 children at each school.

“I act as an advocate for the children,” Gutierrez said. “They are registered before we get there, so I’m able to escort them onto the bus where they wait. I’m always going back and forth from the bus to get the kids on there to get seen.”

Swope Health will serve any school that reaches out about the services. There isn’t a limit to how far Swope Health’s MDU will travel. So far, it has traveled as far north as Excelsior Springs, Mo., and as far south as Olathe, Kan.

“I’m in contact with the schools and let them know what days are available for us to come on site,” Oprisiu said. “Once we book it, they start the process with the children by sending out registration to the entire school.”

There are no requirements for the children whom Swope Health’s MDU serves. Regardless of insurance status, anybody can be seen.

“If you’re uninsured, we have funding sources that offer financial assistance for dental services, such as the Kansas City Health Levy. We also have a program with MARC (Mid America Regional Council) that pays for uninsured kids to be seen,” she said.

While Swope Health’s MDU focuses primary on students during the school year, it also travels to homeless shelters during the summer. Willie and Winnie also travel to various community events throughout the year.

“We were out every weekend in August for back-to-school events and attended some major events for Juneteenth and Pride Month. It’s important for us to be out in the community and serve those who don’t have any other way to be seen,” Oprisiu said.

Interested in scheduling the Swope Health Mobile Medical Unit for a community event? To make the request, click here.

The post Making Bright Smiles: Our Mobile Dental Unit’s Journey appeared first on Swope Health.